A New Kind of Awareness

Joe Saxon

In 2006, I penned a letter to the then prime minister. I asked, actually I begged, for them to somehow make people more aware of autism. My son, then two years old, had been diagnosed, and I was finding it difficult to find any information about the condition. There were no support groups, and certainly nothing in the media. There was just one popular UK charity that I had come across.

In the letter, I explained how I was stared at, moaned at and asked to leave places because of my son’s behaviours – not bad behaviours, just those that resulted from him having autism, which everyone assumed were just bad behaviour. I asked for them to somehow increase awareness, so that my son and others were able to live a life free of judgement and negativity.

Fast forward to present day, there have been numerous programmes on TV which have incorporated autism into the theme. ‘The A Word’ was a big one, and there was also the character Jason in Holby City. In the show, he has Asperger’s – as does the actor who plays him! I should also give mention to the Cbeebies show Pablo!

I personally am very grateful for these shows as they spread an important message, that message being that there are people around us with autism, each so different from each other. They show a variety of the spectrum, not just the traditional ‘Rainman’ character!

One show, Pablo, really caught the eye of my child with autism. She has never been one to sit and watch TV, but when this show came on and she saw the intro, in which one of the animals was running up and down flapping its arms, she instantly related to it and said “happy flappy!” (A term I say when she or my son is flapping with pure joy and excitement!)

That to me was a magic moment, not only did she recognise a trait she had, but it was on a TV programme aimed at children her age, all who will grow up now having some kind of education on autism, which in the future I hope creates a better life for all with the condition.

There are some aspects I certainly don’t like; mainly parts of online media claiming to ‘cure’ conditions like autism by the use of extremely dangerous products. Articles and videos claiming such nonsense are not only harmful, but they also give the false conception that autism can be cured, and in return people have asked me why I am not pursuing a cure!

All in all though, I am really pleased with how much awareness autism now has thanks to media. We just need to make sure that the correct awareness is made.

I have only focussed on one disability here, one that is personal to me, and I have to say the awareness has changed my life for the better.

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